Washington State now has a bill before it to sell off the state’s art collection in $5m chunks every two years and split the proceeds between sending low-income students to college and maintaining the remaining art (as well as acquiring more works of art,) Brandi Kruse of KIRO radio reports:

Senator Karen Keiser, D-Kent, said the idea came to her as she sat at a meeting inside a rarely-used basement conference room.

“I looked up and I saw this gorgeous painting – a masterpiece,” she said. “I looked at that, in this empty room that’s not open to public view, and I said, ‘Why are we locking away our treasures that should be seen and enjoyed?'”

While many of the Washington State Art Commission’s more than 4,000 pieces of art are on public display – at universities and state agencies, for example – Keiser said many are never seen.